The town market is busy every day but turns into something larger on Thursdays and Sundays, when farmers come down from the surrounding villages with sacks of cabbages, beans, potatoes, plums and the apples that the German colonists introduced and that have been growing here ever since.
The fruit and vegetable selection is the best for hundreds of kilometres — a relief after the sameness of the coastal markets. Cured pork, mountain honey and small bags of cardamom from the forest fringe are worth seeking out. Bring cash; nothing is priced.